Proving a Point
by ABlueIndividual
Summary: Follow up to "Just a Little Guppy", set the next day. Flounder is still feeling bad about himself and Ariel's absence, but one friend is able to prove to him he's worth more than he thinks.


**A/N:** This story is a follow up to _Just a Little Guppy_ , and while I thought it stood well enough on its own to be made its own story and not the second chapter of that one, it would still probably be best to read that story before this one.

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 **Proving a Point**

Flounder woke feeling no better than he had the previous night. Usually, it would take a little while to process and remember what had happened before he went to sleep, but today it was as almost if he hadn't slept at all. There was no reason for him not to remember what had happened, that's for sure. He'd actually woken up on his own for once; Ariel hadn't been there to do it for him. If this were a just few days earlier he'd feel quite relieved by this, but today, and surely for every day that would follow, it was a sore reminder that Ariel wasn't waking him up because she wasn't there to do so, not because she'd happened to choose not to.

Flounder yawned and shook himself awake. From outside the little cave where he lived, he was glad to hear some chattering going on, doing Ariel's old job of letting him know that it was indeed time to be out and about. Not that he really felt like doing much, but he knew that he should at least try; he couldn't just let Ariel's absence bring him down forever, could he?

Well, that did seem to him like something beyond his control, but if Ariel had taught him anything, it was to make the most of his life, so even if he was stuck feeling sad about her, he probably ought to at least try and do something remotely useful.

As he started travelling through the sea, Flounder quickly realised that he didn't actually know where he was going; he didn't really have anywhere _to_ go. He thought for a moment; when was the last time he had spent a day without Ariel, and what had he done then? But try as he might, he really couldn't remember the last time he'd been without Ariel.

"Oh, come on," groaned Flounder aloud, feeling quite frustrated with himself now. There had to be _something_ he could do.

Finally, he decided he might as well make his way to Atlantica's palace. Perhaps there was a market on around there or something. There was never any way of knowing whether there was or not: if one went to the palace, sometimes they would see the market nearby, and sometimes they wouldn't.

Flounder swam drearily to the palace, his journey seeming much more monotonous than usual. With Ariel, it usually felt like it took only a few minutes to reach her home from his, but by the time he arrived at the kingdom today, he felt like he had been swimming for hours. He felt exhausted for some reason. Had he not slept long enough, or was it just another effect of his misery?

Probably misery, decided Flounder as he came to a stop and observed the kingdom. There was no market, but plenty of fish, merfolk and the like were present, swimming around and conversing. He felt a little better now that he wasn't alone, but at the same time he felt upset that he wasn't spending his time with any of them. Some were relaxing together or having fun together, making each other happy or just enjoying being in each other's company.

How he wished he still had someone to do that with.

For them, it was like nothing had happened, and he almost felt angry that they all seemed to be enjoying themselves while he was unable to. But, for better or worse, he was quite simply too dispirited to work up enough energy to even feel much resentment towards them. He just stared at them sadly, longing to be one of them.

"Hey, mon!"

Flounder snapped out of his little trance and turned to see Sebastian making his way towards him. He smiled a little.

"Hey, Sebastian," he said quietly, "How's it going?"

"Not too bad, Flounder. Just been talkin' to the king. Tryin' to give him a bit of comfort. It's not easy for him, you know? He's missin' Ariel deeply."

"Yeah," sighed Flounder, nodding. If there was anyone he respected right now, it was King Triton. He couldn't imagine how hard it must have felt for the king to give his daughter legs and allow her to live away from him with the species he once feared, but he had done it so willingly to let her be with the one she loved. "It must be really hard for him."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is. Bit of a relief too, I guess. Gives him a break, at least," Sebastian chuckled, "So, how're you doin', Flounder? What're you up to?"

"Oh, I'm okay," replied Flounder, "Not really doing much. I mean, there isn't really much to do, is there?"

"Well, there's gotta be somethin' to do, mon," said Sebastian, looking around. "We're under the sea, after all. There's always plenty to do."

Flounder's smile dropped a little. "Not really for me. Ariel's not here, so... you know."

"Still, there must be somethin' else you can do. Just because Ariel's not here, that don't mean there's nothin' for you."

Flounder frowned. He knew the crab had meant no harm with his words, if anything he was only trying to help, but he didn't seem to understand how big a part of Flounder's existence Ariel had been.

"Trust me, Sebastian," scowled Flounder, "there is nothing." And with that, he turned, briefly catching a surprised look upon the crustacean's face as he did so, and swam away. He hadn't meant to let his bitterness slide into his tone, and he immediately felt bad for speaking to Sebastian so tersely, but the crab's well-intended words had rubbed him the wrong way.

"That don't mean there's nothin' for you," Sebastian had said, but he was wrong. Very, very wrong.

The little fish scurried through the deep blue ocean, not knowing how long for, before he eventually came to a stop. His destination was nowhere in particular, Flounder merely didn't feel like going any further.

"Flounder! Flounder!"

He spun around and saw Sebastian coming towards him once again, panting as per usual as a result of his struggle to keep up.

"Flounder, wait! What's wrong, mon? What did I say?"

Flounder sighed, vowing to remain calm this time. "You know what you said, Sebastian," he answered, solemnly.

"I said, "There's gotta be somethin' for you to do." What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with it, is that it's just wrong. Ariel's gone, Sebastian, there's nothing for me to do."

Sebastian looked confused, "What... what d'you mean?"

"I mean there's nothing for me to do. There's not much else to it. When Ariel was here, I always had something to do. She was my best friend, and she wanted me to be with her. I didn't really have anything to do other than hang around with her. I didn't hang around with anyone else, or do anything useful. Even when I was with her, she was always the one who did the important things. So now that's she's gone, I can't do anything. I'm pointless." Flounder looked away from Sebastian. He hadn't really wanted or even meant to reveal all of this to him, but it was the truth, quite an obvious truth, and Sebastian, for whatever reason, hadn't seemed to comprehend that a minute ago.

"You're not pointless."

Flounder looked up at Sebastian. "Huh?"

It was a rare occasion in which Sebastian managed to make himself look serious. Usually, even if he was angry or sad, his expression seemed so exaggerated that Flounder regretfully had difficulty not laughing. "I said you're not pointless, Flounder. Nobody's pointless."

" _I_ am. I mean, what have I ever done that's been effective in some way?"

"You've done lots of things: what about whenever Ariel got into trouble? Who normally went to get help? Like when she was sucked into that cavern?"

Flounder gasped. How could he have forgotten about that? Sebastian was right there: no one else knew where Ariel was when that happened. If Flounder hadn't been there, she might have been stuck down in that abyss for the rest of her life.

"But, I was just kinda there. It was luck," he pointed out.

"That don't matter, mon. It's almost always "luck" when someone's there to help another, but that they help still makes the difference. A big one."

Flounder smiled a little. That was true. He had done at least something, admittedly.

"And that's just one time. How about all those other things you done? Like pulling Ariel to catch that wedding ship? Or saving her prince from the sea witch's eels?"

"You helped with that last one," Flounder pointed out.

"Yeah, that's right, I did," said Sebastian, proudly, glad to see Flounder pepping up a bit, "But my point still stands. You've done _a lot_ , Flounder."

Flounder was feeling quite a bit better now, "Well, I guess-"

"And you've been a good friend to Ariel. Even when some of her shenanigans nearly killed you, you always forgave her. And you've always stood by her, even when nobody else would. Trust me, Flounder, she was as lucky to have you as you were to have her."

Flounder couldn't help grinning. He was nearly in tears, but this time tears of happiness and pride. Sebastian had proven him wrong, and he was feeling so much better about himself.

"Don't tell the king this," said Sebastian, leaning towards Flounder a little, "But whenever I joined you and Ariel, it wasn't just to keep an eye on her, it was because I had fun with the both of you on our little adventures. We were a pretty good team."

Flounder laughed a bit. "You're right, we were. So maybe we should go on an adventure right now," he suggested hopefully, "Keep it going even though Ariel's not here."

"I like that idea, mon," grinned Sebastian as he jumped up onto Flounder's back and grabbed his fin, "I think Ariel would be proud."

Flounder beamed as he set off. Sebastian was right, Ariel would be proud of them.

"You know," remarked Sebastian, as he grabbed a clawful of seaweed from the ground, "As much as I respect her choosing her own path, I don't quite think she understands what she's missin' down here."

Flounder rolled his eyes, but still laughed; he knew what was coming next.

 _"The seaweed is always greener..."_

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 **A/N:** I know my Ariel and Eric stories are already clearly my more popular ones (fair enough, I prefer writing and reading them back a bit more too, and don't worry, I've got one in the works that I'm trying to get out as soon as possible), but this story in particular is one I've had in mind for a while, and I wanted to get it done to give Flounder his happy ending.

Also, I would like to apologise for any inconsistencies in Sebastian's dialogue, I wasn't really sure how to write it (I was going to replace some of the "T"'s with "D"'s, so "That" would be "Dat" for example, but I wasn't sure which "T" words I should and shouldn't have done it for, so I dropped that idea). I might come back and edit it another time. And I know the title's kinda lame as well, I really couldn't think of a good one. The document file's called _Flounder and Sebastian_ , and the original title was _Wrong_ , so it could be worse, right?

So, anyway, what did you think? Is it good, is it bad? What did or didn't you like about it? All reviews are welcome and appreciated. Once again, I would like to thank all those who have reviewed my other stories; you all know just how to make my day, and I would highly recommend to my other readers that you check their stories out.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time. Bye!


End file.
